Vidkun Quisling

Real name Abraham Lauritz Jonsson. Leader of Nasjonal Samling, the Norwegian national-socialist party prior to World War II, Vidkun Quisling became the first person in history to announce a coup during a news broadcast on April 9th 1940, the day of the German invasion of Norway (which Quisling had requested of Adolf Hitler during a visit the previous year). The coup failed within a few days; Vidkun Quisling's party had never had much support and had never even held a seat in the national assembly. Quisling continued to cooperate with the invasion forces led by Josef Terboven, who named him Minister President in 1942.

Also the last person in history to receive the death penalty in Norway, on October 24, 1945.

After World War II, the name Quisling became in many languages a synonym for traitor.